Let It Swing
by maximuso
Summary: Stuff goes down after the Winter War. Full Summary Inside! ByaSoi, w/ IchiRuki. Spoilers and not spoilers. Have the cake/eat it too! Kinda mystery, with a bigger mystery in the shadows later...


A Bya/Soi fic with a side of Ichi/ruki. A fairly obvious side, but 'teva. Oh, there are spoilers, and I've also changed certain points, but mainly how the Winter War ends, as you will soon see. Hey, It was written a while ago, I didn't know what would happen.

Summary: Some lessons are harder to learn than others. "Don't touch the fire, it burns", "Don't believe everything you read", and "Don't let Yoruichi get too bored" are easily learnt, but learning to fall in love, or to fall in love _again, _are rather trickier.

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><p><em>The pendulum swings down...<em>

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"...Impressive, boy."

In a place that once might have resembled Karakura town, in a crater created by the clash of steel, reiatsu and determination, surrounded by the bodies of a dozen of the highest ranking shinigami and another half dozen visored...

"In such a short time, you have improved to be my equal."

...stands two figures, one with orange hair, a black jacket, a roadmap of cuts and slices, and a dark sword with a chain on the hilt. At his feet, a sheet-white mask.

"I believed that killing you with the Captains of the Gotei 13 watching would have been an enormous shock to their moral, seeing their enemy cut their last hope to pieces."

The other, sporting slicked-back brown hair, a long, torn and bloody white coat, and an invisible sword. At his feet, a suffocatingly hypnotic black mask.

"In the least, it would have been a good show-

"You think it hasn't been?" For the first time since the start of the battle, Kurosaki Ichigo spoke up. The best way not to be talked into an early death is not to not listen, but to not respond.

Bemused for the first time in a very long while, Sousuke Aizen chuckles. "I guess it has been rather entertaining. But all good shows close the curtain eventually. This battle must end."

Letting his Zanpakuto return to its' first state, Aizen points it at Ichigo, in what could otherwise be called a 'Bring It' action.

Ichigo looks at Tensa Zangetsu. Feeling how tired his blade is, he slowly allows it to change back to his shikai state, then its original form. However, he is now holding a blade the approximate size of a small car, even though he has barely any reiatsu remaining. 'No, this will not do.' Reeling in the excess reiatsu that seeps from him and condensing it, the blade changes to be the size of a rapier.

"So you finally managed to learn how to control your spirit energy." Says Aizen, not lowering his sword. "Fine. **Have at thee**."

Both figures leap, and a moment later, have changed places, but not facing each other.

Silence. A breath, taken under much strain. Silence. Then...

"Kurosaki Ichigo. It would appear I am not meant to be the next King. You, however-

"No. I just want to finish school, get a job, and protect my friends from the dangers I can save them from."

"Hmm. A noble cause. Your purpose in life is not... absolutely...pointless..."

The brown haired man falls to the ground, an enormous cut along the diagonal of his back becoming apparent. It is apparent that he has last words, but they are lost to all ears but Ichigos.

"_To think, one of us, could have been... King..."_

Sosuke Aizen is dead.

It starts to rain.

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_...and back up..._

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It is raining.

There is a house. It looks like a regular house, except for the large sign out front which reads "Kurosaki Clinic". There are several windows to this house being assaulted by the pellets of water, but through only one window is it possible to see Kurosaki Ichigo asleep in bed, and only one of them is slowly sliding open to allow Kuchiki Rukia in.

She silently dropped in, and walked without a sound to the side of the bed. Careful not to wake him, she drew back the sheet, so that she could see his bare chest. He shivered in the cold of the midnight breeze that blew in gently from his now open window.

She reached to touch his face. Using their contact, she quickly checked his health_. _He had taken care of himself, and his reiatsu was as strong as it ever was, but there was something off about it. Like there was something is the room that was...

Thinking for a second, she does what needed to be done. Because if she didn't, someone else will.

Taking his hand, she called his name, and he awoke to the sound of her voice, and her hand holding his. He sat up once he realised that she was really there, and went red from realising he had no shirt on. But that didn't matter at the moment; he had other questions.

"Rukia? What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in-" she cut him off with an index finger gently placed against his upper lip. The look in her eyes and her nearness to him told him what she wanted. For a moment, the rain lets up, allowing them a moment of peace in a world all too complicated.

Withdrawing a hand, she moved closer still, until their lips touched for the first time, and their tongues met for the first time, and-

Her sword penetrated his heart for the _second_ time.

The moment it did, his eyes opened, flared with shock, and after a few seconds of betrayal, he fell limply back to his bed.

As if startled by the murder it had witnessed through the glass, the rain starts to bang against the window, and, if I were to personify it further, then I would write something about the rain trying to warn the inhabitants of the house. But they were fast asleep.

Rukia slid Sode no Shirayuki out of the body and wiped it on a sheet. Smiling sadly as she paused, looking over her friends frame, she turned to leave, but a voice from the closet stopped her.

"Why?"

Rukia looked to the closet, saw that it was closed, and answered the voice. "I dragged him into our world of death. His life after that was my responsibility. It seemed only fitting that I was the one to kill him."

"Yes, that all seemed rather elementary," said the voice. "But why kiss him first?"

"...I'm working on that one." Rather annoyed that her first assassination had been witnessed, and her perfect getaway was not so much 'perfect' as 'botched', she walked over to the cupboard and slid the door open quickly, revealing a bear with a green pill next to it. She placed the pill in the bears' mouth, but did not wait for Kon to come to life. She knew that the assassin did not want to be seen, so she shunpo-ed away, to return to the 13th division barracks.

Soi Fon would make it back to Soul Society first.

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_...and, for the last time, swings back, forward, and __**backwards**__..._

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_One hundred years ago..._

"Thank you, Grandfather."

In the Soul Society, in the enormous city that is the Seireitei, there is a large amount of space dedicated to noble families, even though the shinigami/noble ratio leans heavily in the direction of sword carrying protectors of earth and the Kings Realm.

"It is nothing. Just remember that kidou is not about precision, but feeling."

Approximately 98% of 'noble space' belongs to the four great noble families.

"Again."

Around a quarter of this belongs to the Kuchiki family. This family is currently ruled over by Kuchiki Ginrei, although in around fifty years, this will change.

**"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō 31: Byakurai!"**

In one of the seven gardens of the largest Kuchiki mansion, Kuchiki Byakuya, first in line to the Kuchiki family heir-ship (airship?) practiced shooting his advanced Kidō into the sky (quite sunny, actually), while his grandfather corrected him.

"Feeling, Byakuya, is knowing how to change the flow of energy from your centre to your hands in the shape and size you require. You have to have a feel for it. Channelling your anger into your kido does not work favourably for most individuals. Not even nobles."

Practice was not going well today, however, which was what could be considered strange, because last night the Demon Cat had vanished into air that hadn't seemed so thin a moment ago. The lack of an interruption would normally mean that Ginrei could just leave Byakuya to repeat the action he had been taught perfectly for hours. However, Byakuya was just not getting a grip on some of the fundamental kido teachings that he had mastered years ago.

"_Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō 31: Byakurai!_"

Once again, a small, blue beam of light sparked upwards at a steep angle, fading quickly to nothing only a few metres away.

"Hmm. I can see it is time for a short break. Maybe after some time to calm yourself, you can continue your training at the usual level. But for now," the old man indicates towards a tray a maid had just delivered to the Kuchiki, "drink, and relax."

Wiping sweat from his brow with a towel he had hung in a tree earlier, the young Kuchiki Byakuya put his lacklustre performance down to a bothersome morning. He was not sure why, but the disappearance of that damn demon cat was quite troubling. However, he was not about to start thinking how he might actually miss the interruptions to his schedule she had provided, or the way that she had shown him several special techniques by doing them slow enough for him to understand, slipping out of his grasp again, or the way that she laughed at him, even though he might threaten her with some kind of grievous violence, that smile that never, ever fading.

No, he would not miss that at all.

He didn't have time to change his mind, as his grandfather announced over his shoulder as he turned to leave, "By the way, Byakuya, you have a visitor."

His eyes widened, and he quickly shunpo-ed over to his training sword, as his grandfather had forbid him from using anything else on the captain of the second Gotei 13 division. Currently beside a tree, he grabbed it and shifted to the stance that offered the least venerability in his mind, with his back to the tree. _Let's see her get me now._

Of course, every strategy has a foil plotted in it from the beginning, and rest assured, anything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong.

"What are you doing?"

Ignoring the calm, gentle tone that was in the voice, he tried to locate it instead, fast. Thinking it behind him and to the left a little, he swung with his left hand, turning his head as he did so. This gave him a good view of his wooden training sword splitting into millions of wooden pieces against the side of the tree with an almighty *CRACK*.

Appreciating the fact that he had missed quite completely, Byakuya looked around, not worried a bit about the expensive piece (/pieces) of equipment he had just obliterated and was still holding very firmly. _She had to be around somewhere..._

"What an unpleasant way of greeting a guest."

Looking up for the first time, he saw a human figure clad entirely in black, between the branches. It dropped down slowly, which allowed him to see the person in the daylight properly. He recognised her from the training runs that Yoruichi threw before she hit the ground.

Soi Fong was at home with violent welcomes, being a member of the spec ops, but had never actually seen the welcomes that her tutor had received from the clearly deranged noble. Of course, she had never seen the greeting that the Shihoiun princess had given the Kuchiki heir, and her mentor was known for her...eccentricities.

Byakuya, upon realising who his guest _really _was, turned himself to face her, stood up straight, bowed quite generously for a Kuchiki, and greeted his acquaintance.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Soi Fong-fuku-taicho. How are you thing morning?"

"I am well, Kuchiki Byakuya-dono. I have something to relate to you."

Byakuya could easily tell from her soft, extremely level tone that it had to be personal for the small ninja. Usually, Soi Fong was all business, but a _level_ tone was not something that she would ever resort to.

Bracing himself, he asks "Ok, what is it?" He then goes to sheath his sword, but finds this a bit hard, seeing the current condition of his weapon, so he throws it onto the plate that the maid brought out a few minutes ago, which is a quite impressive shot, really. He mentally arm pumps, then turns to his guest.

"I am here to inform you," Soi Fong starts in a soft level tone, "to inform you that..." but her voice fails her, a slight vibrato being made more and more clear with every word, "that Yoruichi-sama is... is no longer available for your training sessions."

"Oh." Byakuya hadn't expected much else, but the message was surprising in itself. Soi Fong was having a very hard time giving him the information, but she had somehow kept her composure while doing so. It was all Byakuya could do but be curious, as the rumours had gotten to the Kuchiki early that morning. "Why is she no longer available?"

Soi Fong clasp a hand to her mouth, and her eyes looked to the ground, breaking eye contact with Byakuya. "I'm sorry, but I cannot appraise you of this information because...because..." there was a short moment of hesitation, as if the right words were not there. Then, turning around, so that he could not see the tears undoubtably falling down her face like two droplets of salty rain down a glass window, she says, only just audibly, "...I don't know where she is..."

One flash-step later, she was gone. Searching for her spirit energy, Byakuya found that she had not gone far. She was behind the wall that Yoruichi would normally disappear over. What she was doing, Byakuya could only guess. He could only come up with one explanation, however.

Slowly, he walked to his drink-tray, had a sip from a cup that contained cold orange juice, and picked up the tray. Then, he walked over to the gate that Yoruichis' wall had built in. One which, in their ten years of 'training', she had never used.

He opened it, stuck his head around the gate and saw the assassin had her back against the wall, her head in her knees, her arms hugging both head and knees.

He closed the gate behind him, gently, and walked over slowly to the girl. He placed the tray on the other side of her, and sat on her right.

Taking another look at her, he noticed how much the disappearance of the Demon Cat had affected her Lieutenant. All he could see from her curled-up form was the clenched, white fists, the frayed hair and the shakes, but Byakuya had lived long enough (he was about three-hundred years young) to know that with those came red eyes, messy make-up, and a fractured soul (Byakuya always was an idealist romantic ; ) ). The fact that she was crying behind a wall with no-one there for her probably meant that she had no-one to cry with, and no-one to help her deal with the pain.

So, he did what he would expect of anyone who had found someone who was going through rough times. He sat next to her, sipped his cold drink, looked at the clouds and said nothing.

When Soi Fong finally realised that someone had walked over to her, she looked up, and saw that the Kuchiki boy had sat down next to her, and that he had brought some drinks for her. She was surprised twice in the width of just a few seconds; once, by his presence, and again, by his silence. He just sat there, next to her, not saying anything. He didn't say 'It's all going to be alright', or 'Cheer up', or anything. He just sat there, looking at the sky.

For whatever reason, he was there for her. Compassion is something not taught by the teachers of the onmitsukido. Soi Fong didn't understand it, and couldn't contemplate why she deserved it. Doubt ran through her mind once again that morning, and she fell back into the depressing spiral that she woke up to.

_Yoruichi is gone. It was my job to protect her, and she is gone. No, she left us. Left me. She left Soul Society because of me. I've failed you, Yoruichi-sama..._

Next to him, the assassin started crying again. So Byakuya put an arm around her and let her cry every second she required.

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_The pendulum swings..._

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><p><em>So, what did you think? Oh, yeah, I'm posting a ton of stories, stuff I wrote at Uni but never uploaded. Tell me which ones you like, and I might even have a poll later, to see which ones everyone wants. Be sure to check in every now and then, to see which stories I update. Oh, and if I leave a story for too long, I give you full permish to chastiseflame me._

_Anyway, till next time!_

_Believe it!_


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